Coast to coast

After a fun night of sipping box wine while sitting on the beach with some buddies from the hostel, I woke up early to pack my things and catch a bus. I hadn't really decided where to go to next, but was leaning toward Monteverdi. As it turned out, there was a bus strike in San Jose so my plans were no longer feasible. As I was deboarding the bus, I saw two Americans talking about going west via taxi. I chimed in that I'd be interested in splitting the cost with them. A 2 hour taxi ride, 1 hour ferry ride and 2 hour (to only cover 40 km) later I found myself on the Pacific Coast (Montezuma). I'm staying in a sweet jungle bungalow about a 5 minute walk from the beach. When I was reading on the patio this afternoon I saw at least 5 monkeys jumping amongst the trees. One was trying to rip a fruit off a tree while two others shared a banana..... It was even better than watching the Discovery Channel!

Today has been pretty close to perfection. After a good night's sleep I walked down from Montezuma to Playa Grande. On the way I saw at least 6 different types of lizards (including a massive iguana), hundreds of orange/red crabs dancing across the sand and a few tree frogs! When I finally reached Playa Grande I was the only person on the entire 3 km beach, and was alone aside from a wild horse on the far end of the beach. Swam in the ocean a bit before chilling in Montezuma sipping on a smoothie. The smoothies in Costa Rica are unreal. When you order one it seems as if the cook goes back to pick the fruit fresh from the tree! After the snack, I hiked along a river to a waterfall and swimming hole. The waterfall was probably 70 feet high. There was a small shelf between the rock and where the water came crashing down which made a spectacular seat.

Montezuma has the feel of a small laid back surf village. I'm planning on staying tonight and then taking a short bus ride over to Mal Pais to take a surfing lesson. Next week I'll head inland to the could forests before meeting up with my Dad in Peru.

On a side note, despite the 100% Deet I've been using, I have bites everywhere! My right shoulder alone had 40 bites last I counted! Time for another smoothie while watching the sunset.